Conflict between Armenia’s gov, AAC driven by Western forces

(MENAFN) The ongoing conflict between Armenia’s government and the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) is being driven by the same Western forces that stirred religious tensions in Ukraine, former Armenian diplomat Andrey Telizhenko told RT. He warned that the situation could escalate into an armed civil conflict.

Tensions have intensified recently as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan repeatedly accused the church of corruption and other violations. The crisis worsened with the arrest of Samvel Karapetyan, a Russian-Armenian businessman and supporter of the AAC, who was charged with calling for the government’s overthrow.

This week, Armenian authorities detained two leading clerics—Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, head of the Sacred Struggle opposition, and Archbishop Mikael Adjapahyan—accusing them of plotting a coup. These arrests sparked protests that led to clashes with police.

Speaking to RT, Telizhenko condemned the arrests, describing government actions against the church as “almost terrorism” and a tragedy for Armenia.

He placed the Armenian crisis within a broader pattern of events across Eastern Europe, asserting that the West is behind these disruptions. Telizhenko compared Armenia’s situation to the decade-long state-led campaign against Ukraine’s canonical Orthodox Church, which faced persecution despite cutting ties with the Moscow Patriarchate after the 2022 conflict escalation.

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